Sonia Loha, 36, had long struggled with depression and cried for days over the closure of her illegal babysitting business before Wednesday’s gruesome murder-suicide in Danbury, said her relative Digna Naulagwari, 47. Loja’s devastated husband, Pedro Panjon, saw no signs of the coming violence and knew something might be wrong when he came home from work that day — and none of the children ran out as usual to greet him, he said the relative. “I feel terrible,” an exhausted Panjon told The Post on Friday, speaking briefly through an interpreter outside the family’s Whaley Street home, where mourners had left a makeshift memorial of photos, candles and balloons. “There was nothing wrong with how Sonia was acting” before the tragedy, he added. But Panjon realized something was wrong as soon as he got to the front door that night, his cousin said. Sonia Loja allegedly strangled her three children in her Danbury home. Facebook “When Pedro came home from work, the kids would always run to his car and shout ‘Dad! Yes! My dad is back!’ especially the girl, Joselyn,” Naulaguari said. “They would help him carry his things, like his lunch box and everything. On Wednesday, he came home, and the door was locked, but the door was never locked. When the kids weren’t coming out … that’s when his heart broke” because he felt something must be seriously wrong, the relative said. Panjon, who works as a landscaper and carpenter, rushed into the kitchen, dropped the lunch box and found the two-page suicide note, his cousin explained. “The letter said, ‘I’m sorry Pedro, I’m taking my children with me,’” Naulagwari said. “He didn’t read anything else, he pushed the letter away. He still hasn’t read it.” Loja ran an illegal daycare out of the family home. Steven Young Panjon then ran into a bedroom, where he found his 12-year-old son, Junior Panjon, on the floor and 10-year-old daughter, Joselyn Panjon, on the bed — both with wires, possibly electrical wires, around their necks. , the cousin explained. “He pulled out the wires, hoping he would hear life, but it was too late,” he said. The younger boy, Jonael Panjon, 5, was in another room, also with a cord wrapped around his neck, the cousin said. The distraught dad called police when he couldn’t find his wife, but a dispatcher had trouble understanding him, so he went out into the yard to ask a neighbor for help and collapsed to the ground and was later taken to a hospital, his cousin said. Responding officers found Loja hanging in the backyard shed — near a swing and toys that had been used by children in her illegal day operation. Her three children were found dead by their father. Steven Young Loja suffered from depression, which had gone untreated because she didn’t have health insurance and it was “too expensive to go to the doctor,” Naulaguari said. Her recent problems with her illegal business, which was cited twice by the state last month, only worsened her mental state, the cousin said. “Her job was babysitting, but the city shut down her business, they said it was illegal. It wasn’t working,” Naulaguari said. “Then she was crying, she was so sad. She was like, “I have to work,” but she had three kids, so she wanted to work from home. She wanted to stay and take care of her children and the other children.” The state Office of Early Childhood cited Loja for operating the illegal daycare in her home twice last month, a spokesman told The Post. An anonymous tip led officials to the home June 2, when Loja was first reported, spokeswoman Maggie Adair said. A follow-up visit four days later found children in the home again — but Loja claimed they were family members, Adair said. Loja had been depressed the week of the murder-suicide. AP The agency followed up on June 29 and found the illegal daycare was still operating, slapping Loja with a “Demand to Cease” letter, according to the office. A visit a day later found no children in Loja’s care, Adair said. On Monday, Loja called her sister in Westchester County to say she hadn’t slept in days because she was “under a lot of stress,” Naulagwari said. Loja’s sister promised to visit this weekend for a barbecue with other family members, the relative said. “Two days later, and it was gone,” Naulaguari said. The Connecticut State Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Loja’s cause of death as a suicide by hanging on Friday, the Hartford Courant reported. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
